Heartless ... Andrew Copland
A SECRET affair begun on Facebook could have pushed a jealous ex-partner into blowing away a mum and their daughter, an inquest heard.
Crazed Andrew Copland shot Julie Harrison in the back of the head before her terrified daughter Maisie, four, was blasted with the same World War 2 pistol.
Suicidal Copland, 56, then turned the Beretta used by the Italian military on himself.
A coroner was told that Julie - who had moved out Copland's house four weeks earlier - had taken their daughter round to visit her dad for a custody visit after Christmas last year.
But it was feared he shot them both after discovering his ex-partner was having a secret relationship with an old school friend and decided to kill them both and then take his own life.
An eye witness told how Julie must have realised Copland had a gun after he locked the front door.
The worried neighbour dialled 999 after seeing her hand hammering on the window and screaming for help.
Unhinged painter and decorator Copland fired a single shot into both his victims and Maisie died at the scene. Julie died later in hospital after being airlifted to a waiting team of surgeons.
Copland, from Aldershot, Hants, died instantly from a single shot through his brain.
Julie had gone to great lengths to keep a new relationship with old school friend Lee Johnston from him. He had re-established contact with her through Facebook.
Lee, from Northampton, told the inquest in Alton, Hants, that they had been together that morning and were due to meet later the same day.
He said: "She had told me Andrew had been violent on a number of occasions. He had punched her and pushed her down the stairs. He had also hit her in front of Maisie."
He said his new lover was so worried about Copland finding out she got a new mobile phone just to talk to him.
He said: "She was scared of what he might do."
When Julie failed to return the day of the shooting he drove to Copland's house only to find the road sealed off by police.
Neighbour Rachel Southon told the coroner she saw Copland bolt the door and seconds later Julie flopped to the floor - though she didn't realise a gun had been fired.
She said: "I had heard bolts go across and I saw the back of Andrew through the glass.
"Then he disappeared and I saw Julie banging on the glass. Julie then fell back as if he had hit her with something. At that point I phoned the police as I knew something was not right."
Detective Inspector Darren Rawlings said he believed Julie realised something was wrong immediately and was shot first.
Copland found the gun in a skip while working as a builder in 1998, the inquest heard.
North East Hampshire Coroner Andrew Bradley ruled the pair were unlawfully killed and that Copland took his own life.
"It is a matter of great sadness and I cannot change that for anyone," he said.
"This is probably one of the most serious cases that I will ever deal with."
source : http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2915707/Facebook-affair-behind-killings.html